General Motors, in conjunction with ride-sharing affiliate Lyft Inc, will begin testing thousands of autonomous vehicles in the largest program of its type starting in 2018, based on reports out of the US. Most of the vehicles will be autonomous versions of the Chevrolet Bolt electric car and the San Francisco, California based Lyft will include them in its ride sharing fleet in numerous states. The Bolt AV (autonomous vehicle) is not at this stage listed for sale to private buyers.

“If you assume the cost of these autonomous vehicles, the very early ones, will be six figures there aren’t very many retail customers that are willing to go out and spend that kind of money,” GM’s Mike Ableson revealed. “But even at that sort of cost, with a ride sharing platform, you can build a business.